The Dark Web Goes Social

Over the last decade, social media platforms have grown to become an integral part of not just our daily private lives, but also our public lives. For credit card fraudsters, or carders, social media platforms provide the scalability, anonymity and reach necessary for them to peddle stolen goods in their virtual storefronts.

In our original study of this growing threat, much of the global cybercriminal activity occurred on Facebook, QQ, and Baidu.  However, due to the global rise in popularity of multiple social media platforms, many fraudsters have expanded their activities to new platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Snapchat and others.

Continued research also revealed new insights into how social media technology and the traditional criminal marketplace create a new kind of fraud market, including ideas about the medium itself and the humans setting up shop.

The power of modern social media and networking platforms to keep exclusive communities of like-minded people connected are being co-opted by fraudsters looking to take advantage of the anonymity, usefulness, and global reach of these applications to profit.

A Survey of Social Media Criminal Marketplaces
There are several reasons fraudsters, like legitimate users, are attracted to social media platforms as “control stations” for their social lives and even their businesses.  The mass communicative properties of these networking programs bridge physical divides and distances to allow seamless sharing of ideas and information.  On top of that, many platforms provide additional benefits to users looking to maintain an exclusive space for a specific purpose (Read more...)

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